La Trinite race and return cruise 13th to 28th June. One place due to cancellation –offer £750 to include return cruise–15 days sailing.

New RYA courses June and end of July–only needs 3 days off work and you will see some of Cowes week

Updated 2nd May2013

May Bank Holiday was our first Royal Ocean Racing Club race to Le Havre and in winds up to F7 we set off well and had a fast crossing. Towards the finish the wind dropped to F2 and we slowed down but still finished 13th out of 35 in class and picked up 100 NM of the 300 needed before the Fastnet.
We turned straight round and sailed back as the forecast was for the wind to die and fog to develop. After a good run we popped into Cowes and had a good meal out before spinnaker practice on Sunday.

The last weekend in April saw the JOG race to Owers (off Selsey Bill) and we came 2nd in one of our most exciting races yet. Exocet who beat us into 2nd place both ways in the Cherbourg and return race chased us for over 30 miles but finished 50 yards behind.

The races are all filling but One Fastnet place has become available.

Courses are not filling as well as we would like and this is the same for most schools. We continue to do early booking promotions and ‘bundles’. If you want to build miles you can always just sail rather than do the RYA qualifications and we will do the odd special particularly if you have sailed with us before.

Cruises have quite a few enquiries, mainly from regulars and if things follow previous years we will get a sudden rush of bookings.

PayPal--you can pay by PayPal –we prefer you don’t as it costs 3.4% but it does allow you to use a credit card which means you would get your money back if we went bankrupt. I know we won’t but if you are new to us and worried about security please use it for your first booking.

I will be skippering Helsal 3 for the Sydney to Hobart and a few places are available–drop me an e-mail or phone to register interest. The cost will be $6250 with an early booking offer of $500 off. it is expensive but better value than the competition and we have an outstanding Yacht. several places have already been booked by last year’s team members.

The first Saturday in March gave some splendid sailing in the morning and we tacked up the western Solent in sunshine with the tide. Then we headed up Southampton water and hoisted the code Zero—officially a spinnaker but really a giant Genoa , which we can get to fly 40 degrees off the apparent wind.

As we started to accelerate away from Calshot Spit we heard a ‘Pan Pan’ from Capability a yacht by Calshot who had a Man Overboard. Whilst it was only a ‘Pan Pan’ I treated the call as a ‘Mayday’ as I think someone falling into really cold water fulfils the criteria of ‘Grave and imminent danger’. We dropped the Code Zero, turned round and started to motor back towards them but as we came close were relieved to hear they had recovered the casualty and he was OK. The Coastguard had already tasked the Hamble lifeboat and as we were released to continue we saw it coming out of the Hamble.

Offer on D-Day trip and you can do Competent Crew on it as well.

Despite the economic gloom and absence of a summer 2012 was a good year for Wild Spirit. Our big race was Round Ireland and this, plus a few other reasonable results, meant we finished 8th out of 90 in Class 4 of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The six week cruise round Ireland had mixed weather but we had a marvellous time, met some lovely people, saw lots of tall ships, went to amazing places and even sailed under a cable car.

The Wild Spirits who sailed with me on ‘Kioni’ for our cruise out to Lord Howe Island and back (400NM due East of Australia) encountered some of the toughest conditions I have sailed in but came through.

As well as races we had several cruises and the level of repeat bookings remains high. RYA courses did not always fill as quickly as we hoped and it is clear we are competing against some companies who appear cheaper but have significant hidden extras, plus do not fully comply with RYA requirements. We will continue to do it properly, and we will continue with our ‘Easyjet’ marketing policy of reductions for early bookings.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2012

The weather in Sydney seemed even hotter than usual leading up to Christmas and in the mid 30s with high humidity I wished several times to be back in Somerset. Christmas day was however wet, fairly cold and much more like being at home. A former Wild Spirit now racing on a Volvo 60 had invited me and 2 other of the team on Kioni to Christmas lunch and we gratefully accepted. Kioni a French built First 47.7 was my Yacht for the 2012 Sydney to Hobart race and my first start as Skipper. The team of 14 were mainly Aussies with one Ukrainian, and 2 of the Wild Spirit UK racing team.

Training had been badly affected by repair work on board plus having to wait for spares to arrive, so this meant for the Boxing Day start we were not as well prepared as we would have liked. We were however a cohesive team, so although only one other member had completed a Sydney Hobart before I was confident that we would make it. I had already sailed with several of the team out to Lord Howe Island and back but unfortunately one of them, Ross, had been killed in an air crash a in late November. Ross had climbed mountains around the world and explored Antarctica, he wore ancient orange Oilskins from an early expedition. He had been going to do the race with his son Ben. Ross’s place had now been filled by his Son’s friend; both were called Ben and both were Aussie Commandos just back from Afghanistan; fit, fearless and great team players, all they lacked was sailing experience.

Boxing Day dawned fine and warm, the forecast was reasonable and all of a sudden the media mayhem was underway. As Sailors from England we have trouble understanding this as yacht racing in Britain just doesn’t hit the public imagination like it does in Oz. The Sydney Hobart is one of the top 3 sporting events of the year in Oz, a quarter of a million people turn out for the start with Millions more watching on TV.

There were only 2 school boats in the race and we were one, so we attracted some media attention and I did a couple of TV interviews, then they realized we had 2 Commandos on board and the throng became a blockage in the Marina. In Britain we quietly appreciate the contribution of our armed forces; the Aussies do it without the quietly bit! I set off slightly early to the start to escape the media distraction and let the team focus on the race plus practice a few things we hadn’t yet mastered.

We had agreed on a ‘safe’ start, which meant being a minute late over the line, not as spectacular as some, but in a 628 Nautical mile race it seemed a good move. The start was fast and furious and we had a good position right at the windward edge of the 80 strong fleet as we sped across Sydney Harbour, helicopters drowning out all communication. Leaving the Harbour through the Heads we hit the big Pacific swell and our 15 tons and 47 feet length gave us a clear advantage over the lighter yachts that would be faster in flat seas.

We beat on south for 7 hours until the first watch and then settled into the system of ‘sleep’ and work which would dominate the next 4 days. The weather was kinder than the last 2 years and we made good progress for several hours before the wind died; now our 15 tons were a disadvantage and for 9 hours the lighter yachts went past. Then the wind came back and from the Northeast so we were off towards Bass Strait under Spinnaker and making great progress until the largest spinnaker disintegrated forcing us to change to a smaller ‘Storm Spinnaker’.

Sydney Hobart races always have ‘a bit of a blow’ and as were about 30 miles into Bass Strait the wind picked up to over 30 kts, the instruments failed, the alternator stopped charging the batteries and a considerable amount of water appeared in the boat. I delayed the decision to abandon the race, we bailed and pumped, Phil and Greg successfully battled with the alternator and as we passed the half way mark we were determined we would finish.

About 100 miles north of Tasman Island we were changing helms when Aussie Bruce, a fairly large, stereotypical Aussie Farmer fell on me and the wheel breaking 2 of the spokes, I will not repeat what he said, but we now had to treat the helm very carefully as if another spoke went we would not be able to steer.

We beat on down towards Tasmania and heard a weather forecast of ‘South West winds will reach gale force’. Not a problem for us and difficult for some of our competitors, we were well positioned and looking good but definitely sailing in South East winds. We consoled ourselves that the 90 degree wind change would soon come but it was at least 12 hours late and we had a lot of extra Tacks to put in before rounding Tasman Island on the S.E. corner of Tasmania about 1100 on the 30th December.

We had been pursuing ‘Aurora’ whose skipper Jim Holley was completing his 25th Sydney Hobart and just as we rounded Tasman Island we overtook them. He the tacked in close but John my number 2 was adamant we would be better going on for several miles before tacking due to local tide effects. We went straight on and as we looked back we could see how right John was as by the time they had realized their mistake we were a mile ahead.

Now we had to cross the ‘Bay of Storms’ and according to the weather forecast we should be doing this in a Gale that had come over a 1000 miles across the Southern Ocean from the Antarctic. Fortunately the forecast was again wrong and at times the wind was so light we had trouble sailing at all.

The final 20 miles up the Derwent River to Hobart looks simple but it has notoriously fickle winds and we had to work hard to make up about a mile and one place over 4 hours. At one stage we were virtually stationary in the wind shadow of Mount Wellington as the competitor we had overtaken crept up to within 100 metres, then just as he hit the wind shadow and stopped we were suddenly off again.

We finished in the early evening and the ‘Taste of Tasmania’ festival was well underway on the edge of the Harbour. Although we were the 57th Yacht home we did our lap of Honor to loud and sustained applause from over a 1000 people, a moving and uplifting moment made poignant by the sight of Ben wearing his dead father’s ancient Oilskins. We finished 5th out of 16 in Division and I was immensely proud of the team, the effort they had put in and the way they had pulled together without a single cross word in the whole race.

As I type this I am sitting on a sheep station in Gundagai owned by one of the crew. With no rain for 6 weeks and 41C plus strong winds we are on maximum fire alert and spent the morning making a small fire engine out of a 900 litre tank, a pump and a 4 by 4 ‘Ute’.

The nearest settlement is Nangus where the combined store and pub, an open tin hut and patio area surrounded by 1.5 m high tin fencing, is called the ‘Turkey Pen’ as whenever anyone gets near the heads of the customers all come up over the top of the fence like Turkeys.

Paul Jackson
Skipper Kioni Sydney to Hobart Race 2012

We have just spent over £5000 on a new racing main and spinnaker plus commissioned other works to ensure Wild Spirit remains a fast desirable cruiser on which to race, cruise and learn to sail.

The Annual Charity weekend raised over £1000 for St Magaret’s Hospice Taunton and we were blessed by superb weather and wind. On Saturday we achieved 10.9kts SOG going out through Hurst down to the Needles with a complete novice on the helm.

Hard of Earing
So there we were waiting for the start of the race back from Poole to Cowes on a sunny September morning but with no wind, I had just taken my annual swim in the sea when the Ch16 call came through.

Caller ‘Portland Coastguard, are there any dive boats in shell bay’
CG ‘ For routine safety traffic go Channel 67′
Caller ‘This is not routine, I have dropped an ear ring in shell bay and need a dive boat’

The rest of the call was drowned by the team laughing. Shortly afterwards we were off and completed the course of approx 26NM in under 2hrs 55mins to finish 9th out of 25 entrants. A superb spinnaker run of almost 20NM making it one of the most memorable races this year.

2013 programme on its own page–after missing a year the D-Day beaches trip returns.

Updated updated 21st April 2013

Posted: June 23rd, 2012 under Sailing Report.
Comments: none

I sat in the front of the Police rib and looked back at Wayne, Lord Howe Island’s Policeman/ Customs Officer Etc and then at the slogan on the spray shield ‘You’re the Skipper you’re responsible’. Prophetic words but I didn’t know it then.
Lord Howe Island lies about 400NM due east of Australia, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world and our cruise out to it from Sydney would have logged about 480 NM allowing for tacks etc. I say ‘would have logged’ as the instruments had all failed. Other than this and having to replace a broken steering strop in 25 kts it had been a fairly easy trip. At the end, due to lack of wind, we had motored in the last 80NM but were rewarded by a spectacular sunrise.
Of the seven of us on board Andy and I had been before as we were part of the team that took line Honours in the 2011 race. We knew roughly how to negotiate the gap in the reef called ‘Man of War Passage’ but were still grateful to be talked in by a local on the VHF. Kioni is a racing First 47.7 so we didn’t have a Tender and hence the ride in on the Police Rib. It is a long way across the very shallow lagoon and knowing how Lord Howe Island works we were not surprised to be met at the landing stage by the staff of the various accommodation we had booked. Three of the crew were changing over and their replacements were also there. Lord Howe Island has only 6 miles of road and 360 population so, despite no mobile phone service, news travels fast.
Reporting up to the Island Office, I picked up a weather forecast, not too bad; in 36 hours ‘May reach up to 30 kts’ and after that 15 kts or less on the beam for the rest of the way home. Looking at the synoptic chart it appeared to me that the nearer we were to the mainland the less wind and rain we would get. I consulted with Paul, one of the crew who was also an experienced Pilot, he agreed, and given the tides, this meant we had to depart the next morning giving us less than 24 hours in this beautiful place. Some of the crew were not happy to have a short time on the Island but a combination of the weather, it was going to come from the South West the only direction from which the mooring is unprotected plus pre-booked international flights home gave me little option.
Duly reprovisioned, we were transported back to Kioni on a glass bottom boat and then with a Police escort we slipped back out through the reef and set sail across the Tasman Sea towards Sydney. All was going well, we had a GPS that worked and at night by using the anchor light we could see the Hawk at the top of the mast, so we had wind direction if not speed. Around midnight Andy’s watch took over and as I logged off I checked the voltage then called for the engine to be run to charge the batteries. An easy start and water coming out suggested all was well but a few minutes later smoke was seeping from the engine compartment leading to an emergency shut down. I decided to leave the compartment closed for a while but switch off all spare systems to conserve power as we were now 100NM off Lord Howe and more than 300 out from Australia.
The weather forecast, which so far had been accurate, suggested we had at least another 12 hours and possibly more than 24 before we had a bit of weather and as long as we got another 100 miles or so west we would avoid the worst of it. The wind started to pick up and by 0200 when Andy assessed the engine as out for the rest of the trip it was over 30 knots. By 0400 when the watch changed we were in the middle of a huge electric storm and surrounded by lightening. Other than put the 2 main EPIRBs in the Oven there was little we could do other than admire the display. We were comfortable under No4 Genoa and both reefs in the main and the amount of rain was reducing the waves. My wife, Judith, continued her sterling work in the Galley so on we went.
Suddenly a white wall suddenly appeared and through we went into a circular clearing such as you might read of in sea myths. This was however a very uncomfortable reality, Kioni’s rail was well under the water and this was seriously windy. There was plenty of water in the air but instead of rain it was the tops of waves being ripped off and going up. In the 2011 Sydney to Hobart I had used that No 4 in over 35 kts, but it wasn’t up to this and over a minute or two the Genoa disintegrated, pieces were flying up and out and half of the leech wrapped itself round a cap shroud. A batten broke in the main but I continued to pinch on through and a few minutes later we went through another white wall and back into a welcome ‘standard gale’ which allowed us to recover the remnants of the No 4 and hoist the storm jib.
The lightening had gone and we were still making 9 kts SOG in roughly the right direction, things could be worse. Now the swell began to build, or rather the 2 different swells and by dawn we had breaking waves, normally predictable, but sufficiently serious for the wash board to stay in. I am an RYA ISAF Instructor and, despite teaching how to deploy drogues, believe that the key to survival is to have enough good heavy weather helmsmen. Bruce an Aussie Sheep farmer now came to the fore, not only was he a good helm his training at ‘Lambing all hours’ helped, so whilst he was on Andy’s watch he also relieved me on mine.
‘You’re the Skipper you’re responsible’. Now the slogan was for real. Without the engine we didn’t really have enough power for the HF radio but it seemed a good move to try and get another vessel to report our position to the Authorities so I tried on the VHF. No response, but this did not surprise me as the middle of the Tasman is fairly devoid of commercial traffic, however I a nagging doubt that the VHF was no longer working properly started to grow.
On we sailed into the afternoon, the seas remained large however as the wind started to decrease steering around breaking waves became more difficult. When we had hoisted the Storm Jib we had used the luff groove plus the secondary ties, this meant that the change to the No 3, which we needed to keep up enough speed to dodge the worst waves, could only be achieved by taking down the Storm Jib first. This would leave us with only a damaged main to sail on during the change. The remains of the No 4 luff wrapped around the shroud had also gone around one of the spinnaker halyards to make it even more interesting. I climbed onto the boom and with the boathook and the odd curse managed to recover an end and free it. We thought about how to change the head sails, talked it through and then did it. Andy’s partner Alex on her first offshore trip volunteered as part of the foredeck party. Four minutes of rapid activity saw us nicely powered up again and threading our way westward.
As the evening came the swell continued to drop but so did the wind, however the next 12 hours were easier and much needed sleep was gained. An examination of the engine showed that we just couldn’t do anything to stop the direct discharge of the exhaust into the engine compartment; we couldn’t even have run it for a couple of minutes. The coast was now only 150 NM away but the wind continued to drop and was now coming round to the east so our Rhumb line would be a run across the swell. Kioni draws 2.9 m and this cuts out several of the ports north of Sydney so the alternatives were really Sydney, Newcastle some 90NM or Port Stephens just north of Newcastle. As well as only turning on the GPS every hour to conserve power we now had the East Australian Current to factor in and this can run at up to 4 kts plus develop big eddies.
The final consideration was commercial shipping close to the coast and we would probably be in it at night with limited or no lights plus, possibly limited VHF as I had doubts about the main set and the handheld’s battery had expired. We pressed on and in light winds tried a spinnaker run even though the swell was still a couple of metres at times. This meant the spinnaker was prone to collapse and there was clearly something sharp on the stem so we gave up after having ripped 2. Back to the light No 1 Genoa and Gybing down a course reckoned on using a 4 day old Current forecast, but at least we were still going west. About 40 NM off Newcastle we encountered a fishing boat and Drew, an ex Aussie serviceman, eventually managed to speak with them on VHF. Unfortunately this confirmed my fears that our main VHF was no longer functioning properly plus they didn’t have a HF radio and were to far off to reach the shore to reach it on their VHF.
About 20 NM offshore the effect of the Current suddenly decreased and we were now sometimes making 6 Kts, but more often only 3, towards Port Stephen. It was now dark and a container ship passed close by but didn’t respond on VHF. I had 2 white flares ready but we only had the one close encounter. In light breezes we limped along. The amount of phosphorescence increased and suddenly we were in a glowing food chain. Tiny fish shot through the water pursued by others about 40 cm long who in turn were being fed on by 2 sharks; a far more attractive electric show than 2 nights ago.
About 12 NM off shore we got mobile phone coverage, well actually text and Paul got through to Graham who had been on board on the first leg. He used his local contacts so that as we approached the entrance to Port Stephens the Aussie equivalent of the RNLI met us and towed us in the last few miles before gently easing us onto a pontoon at 0200 on the Sunday morning. Meanwhile Bruce had been busy and his cousin arrived fifteen minutes later with a case of Beer to ensure a fitting end to a fairly tough trip.

Updated 11/12/12

Posted: January 3rd, 2011 under Sailing Report.
Comments: none

RBI Log—-Final

A murky Solent beckoned as Graham, Jim Paul and I slipped from Lymington at 0645 on Saturday 31st July. Heads just a touch sore from a good meal and the odd bottle of wine (it’s never the even ones that get you) this was not the weather we had hoped for. We motored out down the Needles passage against a thick mist on the end of the ebb before turning East to run along to St Catts as the tide turned. 2000 miles to go, surely the weather must improve—it did and before long we were running before 15 kts of wind in sunshine. The tide increased as did the wind and we were doing 10 kts over ground as we passed St Catts with only one other yacht for company. With a spinnaker up we continued quickly for another 48 miles before increasing swell and wind of 25+ kts required us to drop it.

Past Beachy head and on towards Dungeness surfing up to 11.6 knots we continued into the night and then the wind dropped so we had to motor for 2 hours before it returned near Dover and with the tide we shot towards the Thames at 9 knots. In the first 24 hrs we logged 145 miles but then the wind dropped and we flew the Pig (asymmetric spinnaker) as we headed towards the east anglian coast.
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Posted: September 7th, 2010 under Sailing Report.
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Towards the Normandy Beaches (via Cherbourg!)

You know how they say when sailing that you are always sailing towards, never to, your destination – well sometimes even that isn’t true. We left Lymington late on a very hot Friday afternoon for the cruise to the Normandy beaches, only to find that due to a combination of wind (or lack of, in the right direction) and tide, if we wanted to sail rather than motor all night that Alderney was a better destination. By the end of the first night watch we actually had enough wind to turn off the engine, which also happened to be just before I retired to my bunk, so I could look forward to an undisturbed 6 hours. The wind did die down considerably during the skipper’s watch, but very kindly he decided we would sail on slowly rather than disturb the sleeping beauties with the iron tops’l. By this time the decision had also been made to head for Cherbourg, not Normandy, because due to a misunderstanding, lack of communication, or call it what you will, we weren’t heading as directly to Alderney as intended. But it had been a good night’s sailing, with clear skies and lots of stars, and we tied up very early Saturday at the start of another glorious day.

After a good French petit dejeuner (croissants, French bread, cheese etc), we left Paul and Graham doing boaty things, whilst Sue, Peter, Jim and I headed up to the Roule Fort; a very steep climb, but the taxi managed it OK. The Fort now houses a very interesting museum covering the D Day Landings, with spectacular views across Cherbourg and the bay. A splendid meal at our secret Cherbourg restaurant rounded off the day.

We made a leisurely start on Sunday, and favourable winds saw us heading off, this time in the right direction, for an excellent sail towards St Vaast. However we were enjoying ourselves so much we continued past St Vaast, had a quick look at the Isles de Marcouf, and continued to Grandcamp Maisy a little further east. Being 6^th June we were pleased to find the presence of some Americans in D Day style uniforms and vehicles, even though they were mostly far too young to have been there 66 years earlier.

A very early start Monday (5.35am!!!) and a brilliant spinnaker run east brought us to our anchorage off Arromanche just 4 hours later, where Paul ferried us ashore in the rib. The ladies set forth for a little retail therapy, leaving the men to tour another museum. Having managed to find a very rudimentary weather forecast, Paul decided that remaining at anchor overnight was probably not the most sensible idea, so a somewhat damper return in the rib to Wild Spirit was effected, and we made an excellent run, this time using the beautiful lightweight spinnaker, westwards to St Vaast.

Tuesday was declared a day of rest, and most of the crew took the amphibious bus across the oyster beds to Tatihou island. A visit to the top of the 17^th Century Vauban tower, which involves a climb up the steep spiral staircase, is worth the effort for the views alone, but does upset the seagulls with their young nesting on the roof. We also walked down to the islet fort which is now home to a colony of egrets, and visited the maritime museum and gardens. Planning to take the ‘bus’ back, we found that everything had shut down for lunch, so we braved the Rhun, or causeway, back through the oyster beds, which is only uncovered at low tide. The tide not being quite low enough yet, after a quick recce we managed the walk in only about 6 inches of water. After some more exhausting shopping in St Vaast, we are now going to put on our glad rags for another night on the town; or failing that a good meal in the Fuchsia restaurant will suffice.

Wednesday

A bit of a strong aroma on board now – both Paul and Jim bought two rounds of very ripe Camembert from Monsieur Gosselin’s delicatessen. It is excellent, and we are doing our best to consume it before it leaves of its own accord!

From the weather forecasts for today we expected the winds to be building during the day, so set off early for a good day’s sailing. Alas, we were thwarted by the wind Gods, and had little wind all day. We hoisted the flying pig (asymmetric spinnaker) around 11.30, but couldn’t get her to set properly, until the skipper noticed our deliberate error (we try to keep him on his toes) – the clew and tack were the wrong way around! In the light winds it was easy to rectify, and we managed to sail for abou t20 minutes until the wind headed us; engines back on before lunch. Undaunted, we did another hoist mid afternoon, which lasted for about 90 minutes. The brief respite from engine noise was very welcome.

We overnighted in Bembridge, and made use of the local watering hole. Local except for the Marina residents that is. A very brisk 30mins walk across paths and a narrow causeway worked up a good thirst. It was quiz night at the pub, but our joint lack of knowledge on soap operas, fashion designers and so on meant we were wise not to get involved.

Now on the final dash back to Lymington. We have wind, and now, for the first time this trip, a big wave crashing across the boat and water down the hatch! In true heroic fashion Paul tried to stop the ingress by taking the force of most of the water. Glad I’m down here as I would have been the only one without full foulies on up there. All calm up top now, sailing nicely downwind under whites, and the kettle’s on. What more do we need!   

Hopefully I speak for all when I say it’s been a great trip, with plenty of excellent sailing, good food and wine, and great company. A big vote of thanks to Paul from us all.

Now signing off,

Crew member Pam

© 2011 Wild Spirit

The race to La Trinite turned out to be classic. With 30 kts of wind on the nose for the start we had 3 reefs in and water coming over the top as we beat down the Solent. Whilst the forecasts had the direction correct the strength was higher than predicted and it only dropped a little as we hurtled down past the needles and out into the Channel.

Our tactics had been based on the forecast and like most other competitors we were aiming to get south of the Casquets traffic separation scheme before the wind dropped and tides swept us back up Channel. The wind dropped early and we decided to stay in mid Chanel instead; north of most of the shipping.

We progressed slowly down towards Ushant until in a complete absence of wind we were drifting backwards in 80 metres of water for several hours. As we were north of the main fleet we could not tell how they were doing and assumed they might have land breezes. Eventually the wind returned and we resumed progress beating down towards Ushant and out into the Atlantic swell before a long night of tacking in the company of 3 yachts that should,  judging by their handicap, have been well ahead of us.

Once past the notorious tidal race of the Rade de Sein on the outside we settled down for a long beam reach in 15 kts of wind and a large swell. After 50 miles of this the wind began to drop and the spinnakers came up. The wind continued to drop but the tide was with us, could we make the finish in time for a beer?

About 7 miles south of the finish there were marks to pass and a course change through a narrow channel limited by rocks, the tide would carry us there but could we make it round the marks. With only 2 kts of wind our ability to steer was limited and we used several sail plans including goose winged with the asymmetric spinnaker before finally creeping past the marks and on to the final run in.

By now two things had become clear, firstly we weren’t going to make it for the beer and secondly the tide would turn against us we could drift across the line. With about 3 knots behind us we flew our biggest spinnaker on a lightweight sheet and with Pam trimming developed 2 knots of boat speed as we continued to creep the last few miles.

No-one saw the squall coming and it hit with 20 kts of wind and heavy rain from the port bows. We bore away and hoisted the whites but the spinnaker sheet detached and the kite was now streaming from the masthead. As long as the wind kept up we could make it and for the 15 minutes the squall lasted we sped over the ground at 8 kts whilst recovering the spinnaker intact. We crossed the line as the rain stopped and the wind dropped then felt our way up the river to Camaret in the early hours before rafting up at the Marina.

Other than the storm/ heavy weather sails we used every sail on board at some stage in the race and managed to make progress between 2 and 30 kts of wind to achieve 6^th in class and beat our old rivals ‘No Fear’ in by several hours.

The hospitality in La Trinite exceeded the normally high JOG levels with a Mayoral reception (short speech lots of bubbly—vive le beaurocracy)  followed by another at the Yacht club and then some moules frite before a couple more drinks on board.

I was genuinely surprised at how perky the crew were the next morning at 0730 as we set off for Loctudy about 60 Nm north. Perhaps the forecast of WSW F4 had cheered them, do they really have more faith in French forecasters them than the Met office? NW to WNW and lots of tacking. Clearly we weren’t going to make it for a good meal out so with Andy skippering one of his YM qualifiers he decided to press on through the nigh a sound decision as the weather wind was due to go further N and increase the next day.

 About 0300 I was rudely awoken by the crew taking an emergency tack to avoid running aground, the chart showed 30 metres but the depth gauge less than one. The steering seemed heavy and the boat slowed, when we started the engine a worrying brown streak appeared. We turned around and the steering seemed better and the boat speed increased. Consulting the chart we were in an area where no trawling or anchoring was permitted and we concluded we had just hit a huge lump of kelp.

We tacked on through the night towards the Rade De Sein a notorious tidal race that requires careful timing, as we closed on it Yachts appeared from several directions and about 10 of us shot through as the tide turned but before the overfalls developed, immaculate timing after over 100 miles of tacking.

Our plan had been to continue up through the Chenal du Fourl but a weather forecast of NW 5 or 6 caused a rethink as this would make L’aberwrach our revised destination, uncomfortable even in the Marina. We turned east and soon arrived in Camaret where we ate well whilst being entertained by 3 bands including Breton pipes—like smaller bagpipes but more musical. The next morning we set off with a much more benign forecast and ran up the Chenal du Four under spinnaker. About 20 Nm later the wind dropped and we had to start motoring towards our revised destination of Weymouth.

For almost 12 hours we had little wind and then the fog closed and the Radar went on, this was the first time we had used it in conjunction with the AIS and the correlation was reassuringly accurate. This was Andy’s second qualifying passage as skipper for Yachtmaster and he was definitely experiencing different conditions. The fog burnt off and the wind picked up, we hoisted the lightweight spinnaker and sped towards Weymouth in up to 20 kts of wind arriving at 1700 on a splendid afternoon with the town packed with holiday makers drinking beer—when in Rome.

A 0600 departure after a heavy night is never the most popular but with a spring tide it had to be done and in glorious sunshine we sped back along the World Heritage site Jurassic coast and home to Lymington having sailed in everything short of a full gale and logging 859 miles.

Posted: December 22nd, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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The Cherbourg peninsular is notorious for its strong tides and the RORC race there was a day after spring tide when up to 9 knots of tide can be encountered.
Our start was more tense than normal as our normal Bow man was not on board. This meant a crash course in spinnaker work as we motored up to the start line against strong tide.

We crossed the line just after the gun and hoisted a spinnaker to set off east towards Selsey Bill. The line I had chosen reflected the relative inexperience of the foredeck crew rather than the best for tide etc so it was a surprise when we realised we about 6th in the class as we neared the Forts.

In varied winds we ran past Nab tower and then Jibed down to the mark off Selsey before settling down for a run across the channel on winds that were much stronger than had been forecast. Had these winds lasted we would have made excellent time but instead breakfast found us in company with several other competitors off Cap Barfleur and struggling with little wind against an increasing foul tide.

With 60 metres of depth anchoring was not an attractive option and we worked hard to reduce the speed at which we going backwards. The tide eventually turned and we made progress again in very light wind.

Approaching Cherbourg the wind dropped below 2 knots and it was clear that we would struggle to finish before the tide turned. Determined sail trimming and no unnecessary movement of crew kept us going and we just managed to work our position on the eddies of tide to arrive at the Western entrance with a few minutes to spare. 

As we rounded the end of the harbour breakwater the tide drew us in and we lost all wind. Along with 3 other yachts we were now drifting backwards towards the finishing line.

We readied the anchor to drop it at the stern and immediately recover but the redistribution of weight alone allowed us to turn and we were able to regain steerage and make a fraction of a knot to cross the line some 26 hours after the start.

This was one of the most exciting finishes we have experienced and we were all tired. There was however more to come.

We set off back to Lymington as it was too late to eat out in Cherbourg. A watch system started and I was fast asleep until 0400 when the engine suddenly stopped. My initial thought was that perhaps we had at last been blessed with wind but it was in fact 25 metres of fishing net round the prop and rudder.

We were in the middle of the channel and at the limit of VHF range. I considered the options and decided against Andrea kind offer to go over the side. There was fog about but we were in a clear patch and between the 2 main flows of shipping.

I spoke with Solent Coast Guard and commenced half hourly Securitee broadcasts while we waited for some wind.

The wind did not come but instead Scarlet Jester a smaller competitor came to us and offered a tow which we accepted. We were now making less than 2 knots north towards the Isle of Wight but there was a possibility of some wind and we had reasonable visibility.

I had not issued a Pan Pan so was surprised when the Coast Guard called us to say the Yarmouth lifeboat was on its way. An hour and a half later we slipped our line from Scarlet Jester and accepted one from the Yarmouth lifeboat. Then we were off at over 8 knots across a flat sea.

Just off Yarmouth we went into a close coupled tow and were put carefully alongside in Yarmouth by the lifeboat. This is an interesting experience as one slip by them and we would be well and truly squashed.

Seastart had a diver waiting and in a quarter of an hour he had cut all the net away and we had ceremonially carried it to the skip. A quick check of the prop and a visit to thank the lifeboat crew and we were on our way.

76th out of 111 entrants so not brilliant but at least we finished.

Our thanks to scarlet Jester, her skipper Jamie Muir and crew.
The cruise to Sark, Alderney and Cherbourg was a much more relaxed trip with some superb weather and for most of the time enough wind to sail by. We had a few regulars plus Carl on board and he proved himself to be an excellent cook and affable team member. On the crossing back he was skipper and completed a Qualifying Passage towards his YM

The Round the Island race was a more laid back affair than the last few years and most of the crew had not used a spinnaker before our practice day. After tacking down the needles passage we went further out than most competitors to give us a simple spinnaker run. With wind against tide off St Catts things got a bit exciting at times and several other yachts tore their spinnakers. We rounded the East end and tacked up the north of the island in very close quarters with shouts of starboard all around.  At 494th out of 1771 far from  our best result but quite commendable for a novice crew flying a spinnaker for the first time.

We came 37th out of 79 in the Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel race last weekend and have now qualified for the Fastnet. Not a fast race due to lack of wind at times but good fun and we improved our light wind sailing skills.

The Eddystone race saw us of to a flying start and we made good time until just before the light house when the wind died. It took us and about 30 other Yachts some 3 hours to inch our way past against the tide but we were entertained by Basking Sharks one of whom circled us in a good impression from Jaws. (I know they only eat plankton but this one was 30 foot long and had a mouth as big as a dustbin). On the way back the wind died completely and the forecast was for very little so with a heavy heart we decided that we would not make the finish in time for the international flights that had to be caught on monday and likely many others retired

The Competent Crew and day Skipper Course run over 2 long weekends was a more lively affair and on the second one we ran down to Weymouth on a spinnaker with the promise of a South or Southwesterly to speed us back. Yet again the weather forecast was wrong and on the Saturday we had to beat back aginst between 20 and 28 knots of Easterly.

Andrew our Day Skipper navigated well and we passed over St Albans ledge shortly before the tide turned to run with us, but against the wind. After a short choppy little section of Anvil point we sailed into the bay and back to the Solent logging 59 miles in just under 10 hours.

All 4 students passed successfully and we had a great time.

Posted: July 20th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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The last Day skipper course was a Sunday to Friday one and we were fortunate to have 4 students on board who could all handle a yacht fairly well. With mixed weather we sailed in winds between 5 and 28 Kts and did some of our night hours sailing round the South of the Island with tide and Wind at up to 10 Kts Speed over Ground.

The RYA require 100 miles minimum and we did 165 including visiting, Cowes, Haslar, Portsmouth, Southampton and Yarmouth. Excellent company made a for really enjoyable course. All 4 students have indicated they want to sail on WS again and 2 have already booked to do so.

Posted: May 5th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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